Netanyahu’s Congress speech ‘emotional but demagogic’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress at the Capitol in Washington March 3, 2015. (Reuters/Joshua Roberts) / Reuters

The Israeli PM’s speech on Iran to the US Congress was emotional but demagogic, and probably some traditional allies of Israel have been repulsed by his war-like rhetoric, Norman Solomon, the Director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, told RT.

RT:It was quite an emotional speech from
Prime Minister Netanyahu - do you think it will change anything
regarding US policy towards Iran?

Norman Solomon: It was an emotional speech but I
think the whole episode of his visit to go around the White House
and speak to Congress has to some extent backfired. If it was
emotional, and it was, it was also demagogic and I think even
some traditional allies of Israel within the President’s
Democratic Party have been repelled by the war-like rhetoric that
Netanyahu provided.

Kaveh Afrasiabi, Iran nuclear negotiation team advisor
2004-2005, on Netanyahu’s Congress speech: “Mr. Netanyahu is
only isolating himself, harming his own prospects in the
election process a couple of weeks down the road because
clearly that was a case of grandstanding despite all his
pretensions to the opposite, and pretending that Israel is the
ideal type, whereas Iranians are demonized and so forth…”

RT:Relations between Tel Aviv and
Washington are at a very low ebb right now, is the US ready to
loosen ties to its close ally for the sake of progress with
Iran?

NS: It’s sort of three cornered right now. The
choice of diplomacy is so clearly preferable that a lot of the
ruling circles you might say in the US prefer to at least explore
diplomacy, and it’s clear that the Republican Party as well as
some Democrats and certainly Netanyahu and the Likud Bloc in
Israel are spoiling for a fight, they are eager for a military
attack on Iran, and this is something that created unprecedented
tensions between the Israeli and the US governments.

RT:Netanyahu's invitation to Washington
came from the Republicans, without White House approval. Barrack
Obama has since pointed out that all foreign policy decisions
should lie with the administration and the President. Do you
think that there is a split within Washington on how to handle
Israel?

NS: I think what the President just said is
wrong. The Congress shows true its exercise of Article 1 Section
8 of the US Constitution whether it’s willing to take
responsibility for declaring war or certainly appropriating money
for war. Even though I think the President is on the correct side
of this argument with the Republicans in the Congress, you
ultimately do not want to - under democracy and under the US
Constitution - have the US President simply dictate foreign
policy that too often had simply dragged us into war.

Kaveh Afrasiabi, Iran nuclear negotiation team advisor
2004-2005, on Netanyahu’s Congress speech: “…Mr. Netanyahu
accused Iran of sparking an arms race in the Middle East. This
coming from the leader of a rogue nuclear state that refuses
the slightest international inspection of its nuclear
facilities …”

RT:Netanyahu again accused Iran of working
on nuclear weapons, and preparing for a global jihad. If he's so
sure of this, why do you think he doesn't back up the claims with
clear evidence?

NS: Let me be frank. The speech by Netanyahu was
the speech of a demagogue. And from the outset he spoke of
Persians attacking Jews millennia ago. This is a sort of a
religious fanaticism that is a parallel with the religious
fanaticism of Islamic fundamentalists who engage in terrorism. In
fact Israel has bombed many neighbors in the Middle East. So it
doesn’t behoove any of us just to support any of this sort of
fanaticism whether it’s coming from ISIS or the Assad regime or
Israel or for that matter from the US which is engaged now in
perpetual war in the region.

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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.